Desiccant?

[NYDAN]

I am in the process of building a new room in the basement and moving all of my firearms, reloading supplies, and hunting equipment into it. The basement is cool and tends to run at a higher humidity than the rest of house. The summer humidity here can be very high and the cold water pipes in the basement have water on them from condensation. Even the concrete walls can feel damp from condensation.

What do people use as a desiccant in their gun safes, or gun cabinets, or powder storage cabinets? Also, where to you find what you use?

Thank you for your experience and thoughts. Dan

 

[gbflyer]

There are those plug-in rods that work pretty well. I also have a large flat desiccant pack that hangs in an enclosed area. It has an indicator on it that changes color when it needs dried. It plugs in and heats up and in a few hours it’s fully regenerated. Finally there are full - on stand alone room dehumidifiers that work well.

 

[JD338]

Dan,
I have a dehumidifier and a small heater inside my vault. I'll show you when you get here.

JD338

 

[Dr. Vette]

The basement has a dehumidifier. This is the #1 item to have in your basement no matter what else you do.

I have one of the rods in the safe, but also two of the dessicant boxes that you plug into the wall once every couple of months to dry it out.

Zero issues in the basement of my previous house or this one with this regimen.

 

[mjcmichigan]

My basement has three main rooms.

I have 1 dehumidifier running, and two floor fans moving the air. With that going on, I’m keeping the humidity year round in the 38-48% range.

Post flood, I had 2 commercial dehumidifiers running for a month. Those units could pull 29 gallons a day. (Yes gallons). After those got my block walls relatively dry, I needed two residential units to keep humidity at 50%. This year, I’m running one with fans and keeping it under 50%. My AC is mostly for upstairs, but it can pull moisture down as well.

I insulated all the cold water pipe runs to reduce risk on condensation.

As far as rods. Match the rod to the safe size. My safe is now in the garage as I have flooded in 2017 and 2021. Tired of replacing safes. I have the 36” golden rod. It’s a winner. He’s keeping humidity under 50% even on wet rainy days. The golden rod has a filler inside the rod to disperse the heat evenly. Many of the non golden rods have no filler and heat less evenly.

The remediation guy said I should not have mold issues if I can keep humidity below 50%. That’s actually the same advice the gun people will give.

So get a could gauges for Measuring humidity. I have digital wireless gauges so I can monitor my freezer, gun safe, and basement at a glance. I have a traditional no battery gauge in basement and freezer as well. I guess that’s my OCD coming through.

You’ll save yourself headaches keeping things dry.

I do have a serious ozone generator that will get used if I think I smell something no that doesn’t belong. It won’t help or hurt your guns, but it will kill
Musty odors from gear that got wet and not dried quickly enough.
Ozone only helps with odors, not humidity.


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[NYDAN]

Guys,

Thank you for your experience and suggestions. Dan